Objective To explore the protective effect of stellate ganglion block (SGB) on myocardial inflammation after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in rats.Methods Sixty 8-week-old male specific pathogen-free (SPF) Wistar rats, weighing 200 to 250 g, were randomly divided into three groups, each with 20 rats. For rats in the sham operation group, the chest was cut open to expose the heart without ligating the coronary arteries. The left anterior descending coronary artery was ligated for rats in AMI group. The SGB was further performed on rats in SGB group following the successful establishment of AMI model. The serum and heart tissues were collected from rats in all groups 1 week after modeling. Real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the mRNA expression levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α) in myocardial tissues of rats in each group; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α) in the serum of rats in each group; and the automatic biochemical analyzer was used to detect the levels of myocardial enzymes (AST, LDH and CK-MB) in the serum of rats in each group.Results The mRNA expression levels of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α in myocardial tissues were significantly different among the groups, and those in the SGB group were lower compared with the AMI group (P < 0.05). There were also differences in the serum levels of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α among the groups (P < 0.05). Specifically, the serum levels of these inflammatory factors in the AMI and SGB groups were higher than those in the sham operation group, while those in the SGB group were even lower relative to the AMI group (P < 0.05). The serum levels of AST, LDH and CK-MB differed among the groups as well (P < 0.05). Compared with the sham operation group, the expression levels of these myocardial enzymes were higher in the AMI and SGB groups (P < 0.05), but those were even lower in the SGB group than in the AMI group (P < 0.05).Conclusions SGB plays protective roles in myocardial inflammation after AMI in rats.